Yes, the core canvas system has been merged several weeks ago already, i.e. it will be also available in the upcoming release (2.
.
See the wiki for details:
http://wiki.flightgear.org/Canvas_Prope ... _07.2F2012As you can see, while the canvas system has been merged, the Nasal API wrapper has not yet been merged.
But you can easily get it from Tom's branch here:
https://gitorious.org/~tomprogs/fg/toms ... sal/canvasSee the api.nas file, the svg.nas file provides even more powerful wrappers that allow you to load your geometry directly from SVG files and animate them with Nasal.
For examples on how to use the system, take a look at Tom's c172p-canvas demo here:
https://gitorious.org/~tomprogs/fg/toms ... raft/c172pAs you can see in the -set.xml file, there's an example instrument provided which uses the canvas system:
https://gitorious.org/~tomprogs/fg/toms ... anvas-testAlso, the canvas-demo GUI dialog contains additional examples:
https://gitorious.org/~tomprogs/fg/toms ... xml#line60Keep in mind that the canvas system is currently work in progress, it is getting more and more flexible and powerful every week - so some things may change. If you want to see what's going on, track Tom's branch. But if you want to make sure that your work also works in the upcoming release, it's a good idea to base everything on what's merged already.
Also, the GUI wrapper for GUI dialogs hasn't yet been merged, so it won't be available in 2.8 unfortunately, but it is currently getting revamped, so it will be even more powerful once it is merged, i.e. in FG 3.0
Overall, for pure text displays, you'll probably need less XML animations and things should perform better frame rate-wise, also there will be more flexibility, and you'll become familiar with a new development system, too
Basically, you can do this entirely in Nasal space, and easily address individual "screen" regions directly, without complicated XML workarounds.